Can You Name the Most Forgotten Supporting Character of the Christmas Story?

Joseph. What’s his story?

Singer/songwriter, Jason Gray, asked this question when he sat down to write a Christmas album. The heart behind what he found is incredible.

“He always seemed like he was just hanging out in the background without much to do… I think what we have to remember about Joseph is that he loved a girl and he had dreams of a future with her and a family with her. And then she broke his heart when she came to him and said, ‘I’m pregnant.’

 

And what’s remarkable about him – as human beings, we don’t do hurt very well. We don’t do pain very well. We usually allow pain to become anger because anger is an easier emotion than hurt. We get hurt, hurt turns to anger, which then turns to vengeance. And that’s human history.

We read that he was a godly man and he decided to divorce her quietly. And this is remarkable to me because he could have done her harm… at the very least, we know he could have ruined her reputation.

That tells me that he allowed the miracle of forgiveness to happen in his hurt. That he didn’t allow hurt to turn into anger and then into vengeance. He was proven to be a man of mercy and isn’t that exactly the kind of man that God would be looking for to be the earthly father of his little boy?

And it was after that – after his heart was proven – that the angel came to him and said, ‘It’s cool, Joseph. It’s as she explained it.’

What she was pregnant with was forgiveness. She carried that in her womb, but he also carried that in his heart.”

(Photo by Jeff Weese via Flickr)

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